Communications system providing message aggregation features and related methods

ABSTRACT

A communications system may include a plurality of source message servers for storing messages for delivery to a user, a target message server having a target message box associated therewith, and an aggregation server for periodically aggregating the messages from the source message servers to the target message box for retrieval by the user. The target message server may provide a delivery failure message to the aggregation server based upon a failure to deliver a message to the target message box. As such, the aggregation server may increase a period of sending messages to the target message box based upon a delivery failure message therefrom, and thereafter decrease the period of sending messages to the target message box based upon a successful delivery of a message thereto.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of pending Ser. No. 10/779,350 filedFeb. 13, 2004 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 60/493,763, filed Aug. 8, 2003, both of which are herebyincorporated herein in their entireties by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of communications systems,and, more particularly, to electronic messaging systems and relatedmethods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic mailboxes are used to store electronic mail (email) messages.Electronic mailboxes are connected to the Internet and use Internetprotocols to send and receive incoming and outgoing e-mail messages. Auser uses a mail program to compose and send messages. The sender's mailprogram communicates with the sender's mail server and delivers themessage across the Internet to the recipient's mail server, where themessage is deposited into the recipient's mailbox (or target mailbox) asa new incoming e-mail.

An e-mail system is an asynchronous send-and-forget messaging system.That is, e-mail is sent without any knowledge of whether it cansuccessfully be delivered. If an e-mail message cannot be delivered, anew e-mail message, known as a delivery failure report or a bouncemessage, is generated by the target mail server and sent back to theoriginating mail server. The bounce message is deposited in the sender'smailbox, notifying the sender that delivery of the original message hasfailed.

The above single source and target e-mail server scenario worksadequately if a user only has only one mailbox. However, most userstoday have more than one mailbox. A user might have one corporate e-mailaccount, one Internet service provider (ISP) e-mail account, and two ormore free Web e-mail accounts (e.g., a Yahoo or Hotmail e-mail account).As a result, it may be difficult to keep up with and manage all of thesedifferent mailboxes.

One approach for providing better e-mail management with multiplemailboxes or accounts is to use an aggregated e-mail delivery systemincluding an e-mail aggregation server. An e-mail aggregation serverconnects to multiple source mailboxes and consolidates the messages inone target mailbox. That is, these servers log on to existing mailboxeson behalf of the user, using credentials set up by the user, retrievethe messages from the mailboxes, and forward the messages to the targetmailbox.

The target mailbox may be stored on the aggregation server, or it may beanother e-mail account (i.e., the aggregation server acts as a e-mailforwarding agent). For example, for a user with ten e-mail accounts, itmay be difficult for the user to check all these mailboxes regularly.Yet, an aggregation server may be used to pull down or aggregatemessages from all ten accounts into one target mailbox.

Message delivery using aggregated e-mail servers simplifies thecomplexity of multiple mailbox management and message delivery. However,there is one significant drawback. Aggregation servers typically do notaddress the problem of bounce messages. An e-mail delivery failure at atarget mailbox generates a bounce message that results in threeundesirable effects. First, the target server sending the bounce messageattempts to address the original sender who sent the e-mail to thesource mailbox. Since the aggregation server acts as an intermediary andforwards the message from the source mailbox to the target mailbox, thetarget server cannot know that the bounce message should not be sent tothe original sender of the message from the source mailbox. The originalsender is typically a third party with no interest in the aggregation,who is likely to be baffled by bounce messages originating from thetarget server; the original sender only knows about messages sent to thesource mailbox server. Thus, bounce messages are not sent to theaggregation server (the intended destination of the bounce message), butinstead to the original sender of the message.

Second, if a target mailbox is unable to accept delivery of newmessages, there is no way to temporarily slow down or disable deliveriesof messages until the target mailbox is once again able to accept mail.This means that bounce messages will continually be sent to the originalsender of the message, potentially resulting in an endless message loop.Finally, the original message that triggered the bounce message is neverdelivered to the intended recipient.

One prior art approach for dealing with bounce messages has beenimplemented in a software program called eMail Bounce Handler fromMaxProg. This program provides a bounce e-mail filtering and handlingtool that recognizes bounce e-mails using a customizable set of rulesand extracts the recipients addresses, allowing a user to use them againto try sending his mail or to take them off his list. eMail BounceHandler connects to a post office protocol (POP) mailbox to retrievebounces, and leaves any other messages untouched. Once the mailbox isprocessed and all bounces are removed, the program provides a list of“bad” e-mails addresses. The user may then export the list to clean hisoriginal address list, or to try to send the e-mail again.

Despite such e-mail bounce message handling approaches, furtheradvancements in dealing with bounce e-mails may be desirable in certainapplications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of thepresent invention to provide a communications system providing messageaggregation and enhanced message delivery failure processing and relatedmethods.

This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with thepresent invention are provided by a communications system which mayinclude a plurality of source message servers for storing messages fordelivery to a user, and a target message server having a target messagebox associated therewith. The system may also include an aggregationserver for periodically aggregating the messages from the source messageservers to the target message box for retrieval by the user. The targetmessage server may provide a delivery failure message to the aggregationserver based upon a failure to deliver a message to the target messagebox. As such, the aggregation server may increase a period of sendingmessages to the target message box based upon a delivery failure messagetherefrom, and thereafter decrease the period of sending messages to thetarget message box based upon a successful delivery of a messagethereto.

More particularly, the aggregation server may selectively re-sendmessages for which delivery failure messages are received. Additionally,the aggregation server may include an intelligent checker module forsending the messages to the target message server. Moreover, theaggregation server may further include a software agent module having aunique address associated therewith. The intelligent checker module maysend the unique address with the messages to the target message server,and the target message box may send the delivery failure messages to theunique address. As such, the software agent module may associate thedelivery failure messages with the respective target message box.

The aggregation server may further include a knowledge base module forcooperating with the software agent module for storing delivery failureinformation for the target message box. Further, the intelligent checkermodule may cooperate with the knowledge base module to increase ordecrease the period of sending based thereon. Moreover, the knowledgebase module may cooperate with the software agent module to store thedelivery failure information for the target message box based upon asource message box identifier and a message identifier associatedtherewith.

The communications system may further include a communications deviceassociated with the user for generating retrieving the messages from thetarget message box. By way of example, the messages may be electronicmail (e-mail) messages, and the communications device may be a mobilewireless communications device, for example.

A message aggregation method aspect of the invention may includeperiodically aggregating messages stored on a plurality of sourcemessage servers to a target message box for retrieval by a user. Themethod may further include generating delivery failure information basedupon a failure to deliver a message to the target message box, andincreasing a period of sending messages from the aggregation server tothe target message box based upon the generation of delivery failureinformation therefor, and thereafter decreasing the period of sendingmessages to the target message box based upon a successful delivery of amessage thereto.

An aggregation server in accordance with the present invention mayinclude an aggregation module for aggregating messages stored on aplurality of source message servers to a target message box associatedwith a target server for retrieval by a user. The target message servermay provide a delivery failure message to the aggregation module basedupon a failure to deliver a message. Moreover, the aggregation servermay further include a knowledge base module for cooperating with theaggregation module to store delivery failure information for the messagebox. The aggregation module may increase a period of sending messages tothe target message box based upon a delivery failure message therefrom,and thereafter decrease the period of sending messages to the targetmessage box based upon a successful delivery of a message thereto.

A computer-readable medium in accordance with the present invention mayalso include an aggregation module and a knowledge base module, such asthose described briefly above.

BRIEF DESCRIPRION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a communications system inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is flow diagram illustrating a message aggregation method inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary mobile wirelesscommunications device for use with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

Generally speaking, the present invention addresses the undesirableeffects of bounce or delivery-failure messages by utilizing softwaremodules, for example, to address the traditional shortcomings ofaggregation servers. The bounce messages can be resolved by a messagethrottling mechanism performed by the aggregated server, which will bedescribed further below.

An aggregated e-mail delivery system 100 in accordance with theinvention is first described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Thecomponents of the aggregated e-mail delivery system 100 illustrativelyinclude a repsective source message box 203 a-203 n residing on each ofa pluarity source servers 205 a-205 n, a target message box 104 residingon a target server 105, and an e-mail aggregation server 106. Theaggregation server 106 communicates bi-directionally with the otherservers, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art.

The source message boxes 203 a-203 n (or sender's mailboxes) are “owned”by a particular user, and they hold messages for that user. The e-mailaggregation server 106 retrieves messages from each source message box203 a-203 n. The target message box 104 is where the e-mail aggregationserver 106 forwards or aggregates the messages to. The target mailserver 105 generates message delivery failure or bounce messages if itis unable to deliver a message to the target message box 104, and thebounce message is sent to the e-mail aggregation server 106. This mayhappen when the target message box 104 is full, for example, among otherreasons, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Stated alternately, the e-mail aggregation server 106 is the bridgingcomponent that connects the source message boxes 205 a-205 n with thetarget message box 104. The e-mail aggregation server 106 aggregatesmessages from source message boxes 203 a-203 n resident on the sourceservers 205 a-205 n to the target message box 104, and it includesvarious modules and agents to perform message throttling to resolvebounce messages, as will be described further below. The target messagebox 104 is accessed by a user's communications device 207, which may bea personal computer (PC), personal digital assistant (PDA), etc., aswill be appreciated by those of skill in the art. FIG. 3 is a schematicblock diagram of an exemplary mobile wireless communications device foruse with the present invention.

More particularly, the e-mail aggregation server 106 includes anaggregation module 201 including an intelligent checker module 202 and asoftware agent module 206, and it also includes a knowledge base module204. The knowledge base module 204 is a centralized database used tostore pertinent information regarding the source message boxes 203 a-203n and the target message box 104. The software agent module 206 providesa response mechanism that is triggered once a bounce message is receivedfrom the target server 105 at the e-mail aggregation server 106. Itstask is to update the target message box record at the knowledge basemodule 204 based upon the new delivery failure state of the targetmessage box 104.

The intelligent checker module 202 may conceptually be thought of as the“brain” of the e-mail aggregation server 106. More particularly, thee-mail aggregation server 106 performs a number of functions. As notedabove, it checks for new messages in the source message boxes 203 a-203n to send to the target message box 104. It also queries and updatesmessage box information at the knowledge base module 204, throttlesmessage delivery (as discussed further below), and cooperates with thesoftware agent module 206 to process bounce messages from the targetmessage box 104.

As noted above, the e-mail aggregation server 106 is responsible fortransferring e-mail from the source message boxes 203 a-203 n to thetarget message box 104. In the illustrated embodiment, the e-mailaggregation server 106 accomplishes this by retrieving messages from thesource message boxes 203 a-203 n, at which point certain transformationsare made to the envelope and the headers thereof. However, the contentor body of the e-mail messages is not modified. First, the envelopesender is changed to the unique e-mail address of the software agentmodule 206. Any delivery failure or bounce messages will therefore bereturned to the software agent module 206. Second, additionalinformation is added to each e-mail header section which uniquelyidentifies both the source message box 203 from which it came and theparticular message stored therein that is being aggregated to the targetmessage box 104.

When a message cannot be delivered to the target message box 104, abounce message is generated and returned to the software agent module206. By inspecting the bounce message, the software agent module 206 isable to discover the identity of the target message box 104 and notifythe knowledge base module 204 that the target message box is currentlyunable to receive e-mails. It should be noted that the aggregationserver 106 will send messages to numerous target message boxes fornumerous users, although only a single target message box 104 is shownin the exemplary embodiment for clarity of illustration.

The intelligent checker module 202 periodically checks the knowledgebase module 204 for message box updates and uses this updatedinformation to throttle message delivery. The intelligent checker module202 may throttle (i.e, slow down, speed up or even completely stop) theperiod of sending further e-mails to the target message box 104 until alater time. Since the software agent module 206 is able to determine theunique identifier of the e-mail message, it is also able to re-attemptdelivery of that message to the target message box 104 at a later time.

Turning now additionally to FIG. 2, an e-mail aggregation server messagethrottling decision path in accordance with the present invention is nowdescribed. Unless otherwise noted, the steps described below pertain tothose performed by the e-mail aggregation server 106. The process begins(Block 300) with the intelligent checker module 202 consulting theknowledge base module 204 to get source message box informationtherefrom, at Block 304. For example, the intelligent checker module 202retrieves information such as the network addresses of the sourcemessage boxes 203 a-203 n, credentials to access the source messageboxes, and a list of messages at the source message boxes that havealready been seen. It may also take into account if the target messagebox 104 is known to not be accepting delivery.

The intelligent checker module 202 then logs into the source messageboxes 203 a-203 n, at Block 306, downloads new messages (Block 308)therefrom, and temporarily stores the new messages in a memory thereof(not shown). The intelligent checker module 202 then inserts new headerinformation in each message, at Block 310, and then delivers the messageto the target message box 104, at Block 312.

If the delivery is a success (i.e., the message is successfullydelivered to the target message box 104), at Block 314, the message isthen stored in the target message box, at Block 316, and the knowledgebase 204 is updated to include the unique mail identifiers, at Block322, thus concluding the illustrated method (Block 317). However, if thedelivery is a failure (i.e., the message cannot be delivered to thetarget message box 104), the target mail server 105 sends a deliveryfailure notification message or bounce message back to the aggregatione-mail server 106, at Block 318.

The software agent module 206 receives the bounce message (because ofthe unique identifier of the software agent module inserted in themessage header), at Block 320, and it updates the knowledge base module204 with the delivery failure information, at Block 322. Moreparticularly, the software agent module 206 inspects the bounce message,determines which source message box 203, target message box 104, andspecific e-mail message are involved in the delivery failure. Thisinformation is then saved in the knowledge base module 204 for futurereference, thus concluding the illustrated method.

After the failure information is saved, the intelligent checker module206 loops back to perform an intelligent check, and the system repeatsitself. The intelligent checker module 206 may then use the intelligentcheck step (Block 304) to throttle message flow. That is, theintelligent checker module 206 may slow down (i.e., increase the periodof sending), speed up (i.e., decrease the period of sending) or stopfuture attempts to send e-mail to the target message box 104, and canalso support failed e-mail retries, as noted above.

It should be noted that in some embodiments the target message box 104may reside on the aggregation server 106, such as if the target messagebox was hosted by an Internet service provider (ISP) that also providedthe above-described aggregation features. Also, the various modulesshown as residing on the aggregation server 106 may be implemented assoftware modules, and they could be spread across different servers ormachines, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

As also noted above, various prior art e-mail aggregation products areavailable. Two examples include Fetchmail and the eMail Bounce Handlerprogram noted above. While Fetchmail does perform e-mail aggregation, itdoes not have a software agent or shared knowledge base, and it cannotimplement throttling or a message retry/re-send when a target messagebox 104 is unavailable. As briefly noted above, eMail Bounce Handler isconsumer-grade solution focused on removing malicious e-mail addressesfrom mailing lists. Yet, this product is not particularly well-suitedfor use in a high-scalability, multi-user server environment, nor doesit provide throttling capabilities.

EXAMPLE

An exemplary hand-held mobile wireless communications device 1000 thatcan be used in the present invention is further described in the examplebelow with reference to FIG. 3. The device 1000 includes a housing 1200,a keyboard 1400 and an output device 1600. The output device shown is adisplay 1600, which is preferably a full graphic LCD. Other types ofoutput devices may alternatively be utilized. A processing device 1800is contained within the housing 1200 and is coupled between the keyboard1400 and the display 1600. The processing device 1800 controls theoperation of the display 1600, as well as the overall operation of themobile device 1000, in response to actuation of keys on the keyboard1400 by the user.

The housing 1200 may be elongated vertically, or may take on other sizesand shapes (including clamshell housing structures). The keyboard mayinclude a mode selection key, or other hardware or software forswitching between text entry and telephony entry.

In addition to the processing device 1800, other parts of the mobiledevice 1000 are shown schematically in FIG. 3. These include acommunications subsystem 1001; a short-range communications subsystem1020; the keyboard 1400 and the display 1600, along with otherinput/output devices 1060, 1080, 1100 and 1120; as well as memorydevices 1160, 1180 and various other device subsystems 1201. The mobiledevice 1000 is preferably a two-way RF communications device havingvoice and data communications capabilities. In addition, the mobiledevice 1000 preferably has the capability to communicate with othercomputer systems via the Internet.

Operating system software executed by the processing device 1800 ispreferably stored in a persistent store, such as the flash memory 1160,but may be stored in other types of memory devices, such as a read onlymemory (ROM) or similar storage element. In addition, system software,specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarilyloaded into a volatile store, such as the random access memory (RAM)1180. Communications signals received by the mobile device may also bestored in the RAM 1180.

The processing device 1800, in addition to its operating systemfunctions, enables execution of software applications 1300A-1300N on thedevice 1000. A predetermined set of applications that control basicdevice operations, such as data and voice communications 1300A and1300B, may be installed on the device 1000 during manufacture. Inaddition, a personal information manager (PIM) application may beinstalled during manufacture. The PIM is preferably capable oforganizing and managing data items, such as e-mail, calendar events,voice mails, appointments, and task items. The PIM application is alsopreferably capable of sending and receiving data items via a wirelessnetwork 1401. Preferably, the PIM data items are seamlessly integrated,synchronized and updated via the wireless network 1401 with the deviceuser's corresponding data items stored or associated with a hostcomputer system.

Communication functions, including data and voice communications, areperformed through the communications subsystem 1001, and possiblythrough the short-range communications subsystem. The communicationssubsystem 1001 includes a receiver 1500, a transmitter 1520, and one ormore antennas 1540 and 1560. In addition, the communications subsystem1001 also includes a processing module, such as a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 1580, and local oscillators (LOs) 1601. The specificdesign and implementation of the communications subsystem 1001 isdependent upon the communications network in which the mobile device1000 is intended to operate. For example, a mobile device 1000 mayinclude a communications subsystem 1001 designed to operate with theMobitex™, Data TACT™ or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile datacommunications networks, and also designed to operate with any of avariety of voice communications networks, such as AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, PCS,GSM, etc. Other types of data and voice networks, both separate andintegrated, may also be utilized with the mobile device 1000.

Network access requirements vary depending upon the type ofcommunication system. For example, in the Mobitex and DataTAC networks,mobile devices are registered on the network using a unique personalidentification number or PIN associated with each device. In GPRSnetworks, however, network access is associated with a subscriber oruser of a device. A GPRS device therefore requires a subscriber identitymodule, commonly referred to as a SIM card, in order to operate on aGPRS network.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, the mobile device 1000 may send and receive communicationssignals over the communication network 1401. Signals received from thecommunications network 1401 by the antenna 1540 are routed to thereceiver 1500, which provides for signal amplification, frequency downconversion, filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also provideanalog to digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of thereceived signal allows the DSP 1580 to perform more complexcommunications functions, such as demodulation and decoding. In asimilar manner, signals to be transmitted to the network 1401 areprocessed (e.g. modulated and encoded) by the DSP 1580 and are thenprovided to the transmitter 1520 for digital to analog conversion,frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission tothe communication network 1401 (or networks) via the antenna 1560.

In addition to processing communications signals, the DSP 1580 providesfor control of the receiver 1500 and the transmitter 1520. For example,gains applied to communications signals in the receiver 1500 andtransmitter 1520 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gaincontrol algorithms implemented in the DSP 1580.

In a data communications mode, a received signal, such as a text messageor web page download, is processed by the communications subsystem 1001and is input to the processing device 1800. The received signal is thenfurther processed by the processing device 1800 for an output to thedisplay 1600, or alternatively to some other auxiliary I/O device 1060.A device user may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages,using the keyboard 1400 and/or some other auxiliary I/O device 1060,such as a touchpad, a rocker switch, a thumb-wheel, or some other typeof input device. The composed data items may then be transmitted overthe communications network 1401 via the communications subsystem 1001.

In a voice communications mode, overall operation of the device issubstantially similar to the data communications mode, except thatreceived signals are output to a speaker 1100, and signals fortransmission are generated by a microphone 1120. Alternative voice oraudio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, mayalso be implemented on the device 1000. In addition, the display 1600may also be utilized in voice communications mode, for example todisplay the identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call,or other voice call related information.

The short-range communications subsystem enables communication betweenthe mobile device 1000 and other proximate systems or devices, whichneed not necessarily be similar devices. For example, the short-rangecommunications subsystem may include an infrared device and associatedcircuits and components, or a Bluetooth™ communications module toprovide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come tothe mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachingspresented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings.Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited tothe specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications andembodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appendedclaims.

1-22. (canceled)
 23. A communications system comprising: a plurality ofsource message servers for storing electronic mail (e-mail) messages; atarget message server having a target message box associated therewith;and an aggregation server for aggregating the e-mail messages from saidsource message servers to the target message server; said aggregationserver increasing a period of sending e-mail messages to the targetmessage box based upon an e-mail delivery failure, and thereafterdecreasing the period of sending e-mail messages to the target messagebox based upon at least one successful e-mail delivery; said aggregationserver selectively re-sending e-mail messages.
 24. The communicationssystem of claim 23 wherein said aggregation server comprises anintelligent checker module for aggregating the e-mail messages from saidsource servers to said target message box.
 25. The communications systemof claim 24 wherein said aggregation server further comprises a softwareagent module having a unique address associated therewith; wherein saidintelligent checker module sends the unique address with the e-mailmessages to the target message box; wherein said target message serversends delivery failure messages to the unique address; and wherein saidsoftware agent module associates the delivery failure messages with thetarget message box.
 26. The communications system of claim 25 whereinsaid aggregation server further comprises a knowledge base module forcooperating with said software agent module for storing delivery failureinformation for the target message box; and wherein said intelligentchecker module cooperates with said knowledge base module to increase ordecrease the period of sending based upon the stored delivery failureinformation.
 27. The communications system of claim 26 wherein saidknowledge base module cooperates with said software agent module tostore the delivery failure information for the target message box basedupon a source message box identifier and a message identifier associatedtherewith.
 28. The communications system of claim 23 further comprisinga communications device associated with a user for accessing themessages from the target message box.
 29. The communications system ofclaim 28 wherein said communications device comprises a mobile wirelesscommunications device.
 30. An electronic mail (e-mail) messageaggregation server comprising: an aggregation module for aggregatinge-mail messages stored on a plurality of source message servers to atarget message box; said aggregation module increasing a period ofsending e-mail messages to the target message box based upon at leastone e-mail delivery failure, and thereafter decreasing the period ofsending e-mail messages to the target message box based upon at leastone successful e-mail delivery; said aggregation module selectivelyre-sending e-mail messages.
 31. The e-mail aggregation server of claim30 wherein said aggregation module comprises: an intelligent checkermodule for periodically aggregating e-mail messages stored on theplurality of source message servers to the target message box; and asoftware agent module having a unique address associated therewith forassociating delivery failure messages with the target message box; saidintelligent checker module sending the unique address with the e-mailmessages to the target message box.
 32. The e-mail aggregation server ofclaim 31 wherein said knowledge base module cooperates with saidsoftware agent module to store the delivery failure information for thetarget message box based upon a source message box identifier and amessage identifier associated therewith.
 33. An electronic mail (e-mail)message aggregation method comprising: periodically aggregating e-mailmessages stored on a plurality of source message servers to a targetmessage box; increasing a period of sending messages to the targetmessage box based at least one e-mail of delivery failure, andthereafter decreasing the period of sending messages to the targetmessage box based upon at least one successful delivery e-mail; andselectively re-sending e-mail messages.
 34. A computer-readable mediumhaving computer-executable modules comprising: an aggregation module forperiodically aggregating electronic mail (e-mail) messages stored on aplurality of source message servers to a target message box; and saidaggregation module increasing a period of sending e-mail messages to thetarget message box based upon at least one e-mail delivery failure, andthereafter decreasing the period of sending e-mail messages to thetarget message box based upon a successful e-mail delivery; saidaggregation module selectively re-sending e-mail messages for whichdelivery failure messages are received.
 35. The computer-readable mediumof claim 34 wherein said aggregation module comprises: an intelligentchecker module for aggregating messages stored on the plurality ofsource message servers to the target message box; and a software agentmodule having a unique address associated therewith for associatingdelivery failure messages with the target message box; said intelligentchecker module sending the unique address with the messages to thetarget message box.
 36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 whereinsaid knowledge base module cooperates with said software agent module tostore the delivery failure information for the target message box basedupon a source message box identifier and a message identifier associatedtherewith.